Rivalry
by Deandra
Summary: Theodwyn has something that Elfwine wants. Fluffy little ONESHOT. Part 42 of the Elfwine Chronicles.


**_Part 42 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots built around the family group of Eomer, Lothiriel and Elfwine. The total number will depend on how many ideas I get for new vignettes._**

A/N at bottom.

**Rivalry **

**(Feb, 9 IV)**

Elfwine was scowling. He was such a happy, affable boy that it was strange to see him so. I cast my eyes around the room to discover the source of his malcontent, and found his gaze focused on his mother and baby sister. Indeed, this seemed very unusual, for I knew he adored his mother and he had given every indication of a great fondness for Theodwyn as well.

I moved over to take a seat beside him, and laid an arm across his back. He had his chin down on his crossed arms where they lay on the table, but he turned his head to the side to look at me when he felt my touch. Yes, clearly my son was not happy about something. I could see it in his eyes.

"What troubles you?" I asked quietly.

He appeared reluctant to answer, then glanced back toward his mother and sister. Finally, he confessed, "I miss Mama. I know it is selfish of me, but now that Theodwyn is here, she seems to have no time for me anymore." He looked away in embarrassment.

I let out a sigh, then rose and suggested, "Let us go for a walk." I held out my hand and he hesitantly took it. I think he was afraid I would be angry with him for what he had said.

I led him in silence out to the garden and found a seat on a bench. Elfwine sat nervously beside me, casting quick, worried glances in my direction as he waited for me to speak.

At length, I told him, "I was a few years younger than you when my sister was born. Even so, I still remember how I resented that all my mother's attention seemed to be on her, while I was forgotten." Elfwine fidgeted beside me and I knew he understood completely the feeling I had expressed.

I put an arm around my son's shoulders and told him, "It does not mean that Mama no longer loves you, or that she loves Theodwyn more. It is hard work having a baby, and Mama has not yet entirely recovered from that. Now she also must care for her new baby, and that tires her even more. Often when Theodwyn sleeps, she does as well. While it is true that Mama could have someone help her, when it comes to her children, she prefers to be the one providing the care. She did it for you, and now she is doing it for Theodwyn."

My son nodded, but I could tell he wanted to say something, so I looked at him questioningly to encourage him. "But...it's just...will Mama always be too tired for me from now on?" he asked mournfully.

"No," I assured him. "She will regain her strength in awhile. But, perhaps, until she does, you will accept me as a replacement. When you want Mama's attention and she is too busy, you come and find me. I promise I will make time to be with you, even if I can only manage a few minutes. And I will tell Gamling he is to let you see me whenever you want to do so."

Elfwine's face broke into a grin, but I could still see reservation in his eyes. There was a deep bond between mother and son, born of the many years when he was our only child. As much as he loved me, I could not entirely take his mother's place.

I leaned closer and whispered, "I am sure she misses being with you, also. Perhaps if you offer to help her with Theodwyn, she will be able to find a few moments to be with you, even while she cares for the baby. And I do not think she would mind at all if you took naps with her."

He smiled sheepishly; he had always been particularly fond of curling up with Lothiriel and sleeping. But lately Miren had been keeping him away so he would not disturb her. I would mention it to Lothiriel and let her handle the matter.

Looking much happier than when we came out, Elfwine stood and moved in front of me. He looked down at his feet for a moment, then quickly threw his arms around my neck and hugged me. "Thank you, Papa! I love you!"

"I love you, too, son," I answered, hugging him in return.

I smiled as I picked him up and carried him back inside. He was beginning to get too old and too big for me to carry him around like I used to, but for just a while longer, he was still my little boy.

THE END

8-24-05

A/N: Many of you had been wanting a sibling rivalry story, but Eokat had done such a good job of it between Eomer/Eowyn in "Orcs and Babes", that I had a hard time coming up with something that wouldn't just simply be a rehash of that. Hopefully, you'll find this satisfying.

Lady Anck-su-namun – Man! You must have read ch. 6 of No Mistake:Redux in, like, a minute! You reviewed only minutes after I posted it!

Elwen of Lorien – after reading your ch. 6 review on No Mistake:Redux, it occurred to me that basically what you are reading there is my thought process when I wrote the original. Even though the story was originally from Lothiriel's POV and you didn't see all this Eomer stuff before, this is essentially what I envisioned happening, "behind the scenes", that affected what Lothiriel saw/said/did.

wondereye, et. al. – more Eomer perspective coming up. I finished the first run-through and now just have to proof and clean up the rework of By The Book, then I can start posting.

**_End note: It is not essential that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written, but there is an advantage to doing so. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order (#15 came after #17, I think), but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content._**


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